Ratchet wrenches have been provided which permit free rotation of the stud in a selected direction but lock the stud against rotation in the opposite direction to tighten or loosen a nut threaded on a bolt or the like. This type of ratchet wrench requires that the entire handle be rotated with the stud to effect corresponding movement of the stud and its associated socket and workpiece such as a bolt or nut. Movement of the entire handle is sometimes limited to only a small arc because the handle hits obstacles such as parts of an engine.
Wrenches have been provided with auxiliary drive means whereby the stud and its associated socket may be rotated without corresponding movement of the handle. One such auxiliary drive means is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,786,701 issued Dec. 30, 1930 to Hilton B. Butlin. Butlin discloses a wrench having a hollow handle with a shaft extending through the handle and joined at one end to a beveled gear wheel meshing with a second beveled gear wheel mounted on an angularly disposed shaft having a stud fixed at its outer end to receive a desired socket. A wheel is fixed to the other end of the shaft extending through the handle remote from the gears, and the stud may be rotated by rotation of the wheel imparting corresponding rotation to the shaft, gears and stud. The wheel may be locked against movement relative to the handle when necessary to use the handle for leverage to tighten or loosen a nut. It clearly takes two hands to operate the Butlin wrench.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,603,976 issued July 22, 1952 to John H. Hilton discloses an attachment for rotating a loosened nut on a threaded bolt without moving the handle of the wrench. Hilton provides a sleeve externally of the handle and the sleeve is geared to rotate a shaft extending axially through the handle with a worm gear engaged with a spur gear to rotate the socket retaining stud. Rotation of the sleeve is effective to rotate a loosened nut to remove it from its bolt or to move it in position to be tightened on the bolt. Hilton employs a ratchet mechanism to selectively permit rotation of the sleeve in one direction relative to the handle while fixing the sleeve against rotation in the opposite direction relative to the handle when desired to apply leverage to a nut. Two hands are required to set the ratchet and the gear arrangement of Hilton and results in undesirably slow rotation of the stud and its associated nut when rotated by the sleeve, it requiring about three revolutions of the sleeve to rotate the stud a single revolution.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,621 issued Nov. 8, 1966 to William J. Faso, U.S. Pat. No. 3,463,038 issued Aug. 26, 1969 to Louis C. Scull, U.S. Pat. No. 2,756,792 issued July 31, 1956 to Jerold Hirschman, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,733,288 issued Oct. 29, 1929 to Clary M. Tune are other examples of the prior art known to applicant, but none of them disclose the novel apparatus claimed by applicant to speedily rotate a nut loosely threaded on a shaft or bolt and requiring only one hand to manipulate the speed accessory and/or the handle of the wrench as desired for leverage.